Full steam ahead!!

So my husband works swing shifts usually getting home at midnight or so, sometimes to unwind he'll turn on the TV... there is virtually nothing on TV at midnight unless you count endless commercials for live link dating hot line and of course info-mercials! I walk in the room and my husband is watching an info-mercial for a clothes steamer! And our convo went something like this:
"Honey, you can put in a movie we have several to choose from instead of that dumb info-mercial"
"Are you kidding me? I've always wanted a clothes steamer!"
"Really? Are you kidding me? I never knew that about you!"
"Think of the time it would save me ironing my shirts and I could steam my suits and not have to take them to the cleaners!"

So to put this in perspective my husband attended the Air Force academy where he had to literally iron his sheets. He has relaxed quite a bit but he is all about having things pressed and shined and sharp looking. So I bought him a steamer for Christmas (the only thing he got for Christmas...we were trying to be really frugal this year). So there you go my husband, hot and steamy...knock yourself out honey!

Slip and Slide!

Efforts to make Christmas Vacation amazing edition number 3...sliding at our cousins house in the country!

I am the only one of my family in the US, I miss my family SO MUCH it hurts...particularly at Christmas and New Years...which is why I take every opportunity I can to spend time with my aunt Jennie (my only relative living in the US) her amazing husband Dave and their phenomenal children. Sounds too good to be true right? No, honestly this family is top notch, I can only hope that mine will turn out a fraction as well, I keep asking her secret ingredient but so far she is with holding it from me. Her oldest daughter Amber and I have children the same age and Amber and they live in this picturesque area to the south of me equipped with great sliding hills and a Nintendo Wii (which we don't have!). It is my boys idea of heaven (except for the dogs which they are terrified of). Blessed am I to have such amazing family if only 45 minutes away!

bruises and snoozes!

So in my efforts to make Christmas vacation memorable the boys and I made a list of things we wanted to do and then sat down to downsize the list and figure out who, what, when and where etc. Here is the list:
*swimming *bowling *skating *sledding *playing Nintendo 64 *playing Hullabaloo *visiting cousins
I called Stephen to see what his recommendations were (he was working). He said "pick one we have to pay for and one that we don't and we'll see if we can't accomplish that this week, we just can't fit it all in". True enough! So we did secret ballot by writing for those that can and drawing for those that can't read. Much to my disappointment bowling won and skating got ousted! (I love to skate) We made plans with friends of our that we haven't seen in 8 years to go together bowling today. This morning they called and their kids were throwing up so we had to reschedule for later in the week. I turned to Stephen and said "so since we aren't going bowling today shall we skate?" I'm so sly!

The boys had fun, complained at first cause they could not stay up for anything....by the end they were starting to get the hang of it. They kept saying "I want to skate like you (with tears in their eyes)" to which I replied "honey, I've been skating since I was three, I had a skating rink in my backyard! That's like me wanting to play the violin as well as Daddy right away and he's been playing since he was three! It takes lots of work and patience!"
I'm interested to see how many bruises I'll find on them at bath time tomorrow, but with all the excitement and falling, there will be a lot of snoozing tonight!

Blessings for Christmas!

I feel so blessed that we were able to have such a great Christmas full of love, laughter and of course energy with 4 little boys. During a season of great difficulty for many, I find myself giving many thanks for our jobs and the security they provide, our health...my kids are very healthy...sometimes I find myself wishing for a moment of lethargy from one or two :) Nevertheless health is something that can be taken for granted and I'm finding over the past year a renewed need to give thanks for such a tremendous blessing.

My mother, though still fighting her stage 4 cancer is in such great spirits and is a continuous example to me of the power of positivity in the face of adversity. She is still with us and blesses our lives. During this season I am so greatful for loving, kind parents that raised a family with so much love. My sibblings rock and I think that is one of the greatest gift they have ever given me...cool brothers and sisters. The ONLY thing that would have made Christmas better this year is to have been able to spend it with family, but then again I guess that's another blessing to count is that we actually have lots of family members that we would WANT to spend time with, instead of the toxic and annoying type you hear so much of.

Here is my wish to you for a fabulous New Year filled with much happiness, and many opportunities to count blessings!